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Job outlook for general assistants in the United States
General assistant job growth summary. After extensive research, interviews, and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
The projected general assistant job growth rate is -8% from 2018-2028.
About -286,900 new jobs for general assistants are projected over the next decade.
General assistant salaries have increased 12% for general assistants in the last 5 years.
There are over 8,216 general assistants currently employed in the United States.
There are 66,211 active general assistant job openings in the US.
The average general assistant salary is $37,718.
Are general assistant jobs in demand?
General assistant job and salary trends over time
General assistant jobs over time
General assistant job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 8,216 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 8,325 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 9,171 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 9,743 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 10,145 | 0.00% |
Average general assistant salary over time
General assistant salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $37,718 | $18.13 | +3.1% |
| 2025 | $36,592 | $17.59 | +2.9% |
| 2024 | $35,563 | $17.10 | +2.9% |
| 2023 | $34,553 | $16.61 | +2.2% |
| 2022 | $33,806 | $16.25 | +2.7% |
General assistant jobs by state
Most common states for general assistants
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 354 | 51% |
| 2 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 1,983 | 29% |
| 3 | Delaware | 961,939 | 239 | 25% |
| 4 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 321 | 24% |
| 5 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 178 | 24% |
| 6 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 648 | 21% |
| 7 | Maine | 1,335,907 | 275 | 21% |
| 8 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 833 | 20% |
| 9 | Idaho | 1,716,943 | 349 | 20% |
| 10 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 211 | 20% |
| 11 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 662 | 18% |
| 12 | Alaska | 739,795 | 136 | 18% |
| 13 | New York | 19,849,399 | 3,433 | 17% |
| 14 | New Jersey | 9,005,644 | 1,497 | 17% |
| 15 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 1,231 | 17% |
| 16 | California | 39,536,653 | 6,496 | 16% |
| 17 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 132 | 15% |
| 18 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 146 | 14% |
| 19 | Vermont | 623,657 | 87 | 14% |
| 20 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 1,124 | 13% |
Most common cities for general assistants
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Warwick | 1 | 3% | $45,948 |
| 2 | Madison | 1 | 2% | $33,934 |
| 3 | Flagstaff | 1 | 1% | $28,319 |
| 4 | Miramar | 1 | 1% | $39,795 |
| 5 | Mission Viejo | 1 | 1% | $37,988 |
| 6 | Springfield | 1 | 1% | $55,315 |
| 7 | Tallahassee | 1 | 1% | $38,591 |
| 8 | Troy | 1 | 1% | $41,440 |
| 9 | Warren | 1 | 1% | $41,638 |
| 10 | Chicago | 1 | 0% | $38,260 |
| 11 | Fontana | 1 | 0% | $37,392 |
| 12 | Orlando | 1 | 0% | $39,739 |
General Assistant job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of general assistant experts
College of Charleston
Meredith College
What type of skills will young General Assistants need?
Jacob Craig Ph.D.: In school, students are often taught to work by themselves. In some cases, they are even penalized for working with others. In some rare cases, students are asked to do a little group work but only for a short amount of time, at the end of their learning in a class.
The first thing that graduates need to know is that the workplace is nearly opposite from school. Employees, especially professional, technical, and content writer jobs, are more often than not collaborative and teams-based. The added wrinkle is that office culture is unlikely to go back to pre-pandemic occupancy rates.
So graduates need to know is that odds are good that at least part of their job will be remote. And that might be the case for at least part of the time. Announcements from tech, finance, and insurance about their latest work-from-home policies keep making the news. So not only are the chances good that they'll be working in teams, their team members and co-workers won't be in the same room with them. They'll be working collaboratively through writing. This is good news for English graduates. Much of the writing someone in a professional, technical, or content writing job are products meant for public readership. Like press releases that are sent to news outlets. But all of that writing is built on a network of notes, memos, policies, and text threads meant for co-workers. Remote work just means that co-workers will be writing each other more and more often. English graduates who can make texts for public audiences and write effectively to co-workers are positioned to do well.
The second thing that students need to know is how to start and stop writing in the context of someone else's draft. They will rarely begin with a blank screen and end with a finished text.
The third thing is that it's likely small businesses will take some time to bounce back. In those workplace settings, it is likely that an employee will need to have a range of knowledge and skills because their job will combine parts multiple roles. So a copywriter in a small marketing firm might need to also know something about SEO and social analytics and visual design. In larger offices, however, jobs tend to be much more specialized and team-based. So graduates need to be comfortable working in teams where they have an assigned role, and they need to be able to receive work in-process, complete their assigned part, and hand that work off still in-process.
And finally, students need to learn how to learn new technologies. Learn just through documentation, without a human tutorial. Even if employees are exclusively using the Microsoft Suite, it will be used for writing, editing, project management. It will be used to collaborate and present. Depending on where a student studies and what classes they take, those digital pieces might not be a part of their coursework. So, at the very least, students need to know that the workforce will constantly ask them to learn new technologies and new uses for familiar technologies.
What experience really stands out on General Assistant resumes?
Angela Robbins Ph.D.: History majors-and in fact, all students in the Humanities-practice skills in the classroom which have real-world, job performance implications, as laid out above. In my experience, students need to do a better job of communicating on their resumes what exactly those skills are so they do stand out. Job-seekers might list critical thinking skills, leadership skills, and the ability to work on a team on their resumes, for example, but for them to be able to point to specific examples from their classes and projects, and to be able to talk about those in interviews, is especially valuable. Internships also really stand out, because employers want to know that students have practiced these skills outside the classroom and have gained real-world experience, too.